Matt P

i'm quite a fan of the epiphone les paul juniors i have/had one (it's currently in my friends posession but i think i still officially own it) mine is a sunburst one and was pretty good straight out of the box but being a mod freak i ended up replacing the bridge, tuners, pots and pickup. it started out as a fairly decent budget guitar but it's a monster now! watch out for the string spacing though, it's actually closer to a fender than a gibson (52mm at the bridge) it caught me out when i was buying a pickup. i've actually got a seymour duncan jb and a new bridge sitting in a box waiting for another cheap lp jr to pop up locally so i can mod another. Matt

i've got a csb 300 at home (the defretted one that Benebass mentioned in the other thread), i could have a check of the electrics when i get in tonight, i think it's probably the same as the RSB that Bloodaxe has shown above. Matt

i had an Epiphone g400 for a while but never really got on with it as it was too neck heavy, it was a well built guitar and sounded and looked excellent but the neck dive was too much for me and I sold it and went over to the Vintage V100. But if ypou had an SG before and loved it then i'd guess that the epiphone would be perfect, Matt

some good options have already been suggested, i have a similar setup to the one you are trying to achieve, a mex fender tele standard and a mid 90's tanglewood chicago (es335 semi copy) the chicago only cost me 220 quid and it's a beaut, i did have a vintage brand les paul as well but i had to sell it to make way for my p-bass, it's currently with a friend but i hope to buy it back as soon as i can find space in the house for it as it was a fantastic guitar (and it only cost me 90 quid at cash converters!) i've yet to play a bad vintage guitar! Matt

[indent=1]i'm a total Newtone Fanboy, the heritage strings are the finest i've ever used, i was a d'addario user for many years then went over to DR which were better than the D'addario but the newtone heritage are the finest i've come across, i use the 12's and buy them 10 sets at a time, i've been known to give them away to friends as well and most of them convert over as well.[/indent] [indent=1]If they're good enough for Gordon Giltrap then they're good enough for me. as a bonus when you buy them in bulk they work out less than buying D'addario/rotosound/whatever at a shop (if my local shop stocked newtone then i'd buy them there, i have asked and he's looking into stocking them)[/indent] [indent=1]Matt[/indent]

I love my Letts 5 string singlecut, I've barely touched any of my other instruments since I collected it. Once I've paid for the new kitchen and bathroom and am in brownie points credit I might just pull the trigger on a fretless version.

not played the dot but as a foil to a telecater a 335 style guitar is fantastic, i've got a mex tele and a mid 90's tanglewood cs-2 and between them they cover pretty much everything i need (i do have a couple of superstrats as well but the tele and semi get a fair amount of the use) play as many as you can before handing over the money and don't discount other brands and models, my tanglewood had a price tag of about 500 quid new and i only paid about 220 for it a few years ago, it's a cracking guitar for the money, no mods required. Vintage make some nice examples as well. Matt

this is very interesting to read. our guitarist is about to send his sessionette off for exactly this mod, from your description i think it's going to suit him even better that it was before (and he describes it as his perfect amp) Matt

slightly off topic but where in newcastle are you playing next month? (and on what day?) Matt

Sorry, double post due to impatient clicking of the buttons! Matt

Not had a chance to watch the video but you've been given some very good advice, my main suggestion would be to get a musician friend who you really trust to be in the audience, you could have a prearranged set of signals to let you know how you sound, even if its just a huge cheesy grin to let you know that it sounds great! I was never really sure how I sounded till a friend who's ears I really trust came up to me between sets and told me that the bass sounded fantastic, I really enjoyed the second set as I knew that I sounded great in the room. Matt

if you want a free resorce you could try [url="http://www.dodgebass.co.uk/transcriptions-2/publications"]http://www.dodgebass.co.uk/transcriptions-2/publications[/url] i'ver downloaded these and they're great! i must point out that i am friends with DodgeBass though so might be slightly biased! (he's also giving me lessons at the moment although these are being paid for) Dodge is also a Member on here. Matt

i have the schallers fitted to all of my instruments with the exception of the acoustic guitars (as they have end pin jacks) and the aria cardinal bass (as the upper horn shape won't allow them to fit) so i've got grolsh washers on those, i've actually got more instruments with schaller buttons on than i have straps with the other halves, but i've got about 6 straps with the straplocks on so i just grab whichever one i feel like using for that session. (got them on a hook next to the instrument rack.) and i've got a couple of spare sets of the buttons in a box just in case i "accidentally" buy another bass! Matt

i'll echo what others have said about reading the small print, my wife phoned up to check what our cover was because i was going to start being paid for gigs, the broker was very nice and said that he would check our policy and get back to us, he phoned back about 30 minutres later to tell us that our insurer had cancelled our policy! as i was being paid they counted that as a part-time occupation and they didn't cover musicians so that was it! the broker got it all sorted very quickly with a new insurance company and i got seperate insurance for all my gear for gigging. we actually saved a bit when the broker sorted the new policy as it came out about 40 quid less than our previous insurer Matt

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1394049072' post='2387431'] Darras Hall I reckon? I grew up in Ponteland... [/quote] Yup, the advert was in the local free paper, I phoned up as soon as I saw it and went straight there via the cash point! Matt

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1394041339' post='2387301'] - where's an inconsolable icon when you need one?!? (You can put another "6" in front of yours for what I paid for my "Severn"s) Well done on avoiding Hi-fi GAS though. Me too, haven't bought any new kit in over 10 years, had a pair of Senn's bought for me & a Pure DAB radio off my son but that's it. It's also rare that I buy any "new" recordings, as in new artists, as the attraction rarely lasts. Been buying a fair bit of vinyl lately, but only if it's close to or actual mint. [/quote] I must point out that my castles are the much more lowly Durham 2's, the guy I bought them from was having a clear out and we actually got 2 pairs for 60 a pair and I snagged a nakamichi cassette deck 2 for another 40 quid, they guy lived in a huge house in an area mostly populated by premiership footballers, the system in his living room looked like Stonehenge! (I probably shouldn't let on that my thorens turntable was given to me by a mates dad who was going to throw it out if I didn't want it!) Matt

i've managed to avoid the dreaded upgrade bug with my hifi, but i have made a few changes that are noticeable, when i got married i moved my beloved hifi out of the bedroom in my student house into the living room of our newly purchased home and suddenly it sounded a bit flat, i tried moving the speakers (kef floorstanders) around and it just didn't work, 60 quid on a pair of secondhand castle speakers and 20 for some stands and suddenly it was alive again, and i got 50 quid for the old speakers from a friend, when i heard them in his livingroom they sounded excellent again! the other noticeable improvement was fitting a new Ortofon cartridge to Thorens turntable but i think this was more to do with the clean sharp stylus than becuse the new cartridge was "better" then the old Shure one. every so often i find myself in a hifi shop and enquire about a new amp, the general opinion of most of the salespeople is that i need to spend a minimum of 500 quid to get something "better", when it finally dies i think i'll actually spend 50 quid on something from ebay (which is how i got the current one anyway) Matt

i fit 10's on anything with a fender scale length and 12's on gibson scale length, rolled on the semi-acoustic my acoustics all have 12's but i use Newtone Heritage strings which are balanced and low tension, all the tone of 12's with a feel that's somewhere between 10's and 11's, highly recommended for anyone who struggles with standard 12's, as a bonus they seem to last longer than d'addario and don't cost that much more, quite a few of my friends have gone over to them as well after trying one of my guitars. matt

i've gigged using all sorts but my own rigs have always been pretty small, an ashdown nsuperfly through an ashdown 4x8, then swapped the head to an swr headlite, then swapped the cabs to a pair of barefaced midgets, now i've gone to a markbass f1 head to go with the midgets, i can get all the volume and tone i need from a single cab but often take the second one along as they're so light and it's easier to reach the controls on the amp when it's higher up, i've actually done a couple of gigs with only one of the two cabs plugged in (both accidentally and on purpose). i like the extra stage space i get with the tiny cabs, that and the looki on thge soundmans face when i put the master volume at about 9 o'clock and out-loud his fancy PA sysytem!

i've currently got 2 turntables set up in my system, a thorens td160b with the sme 3009 arm and an ortofon 2m red cartridge, and a pro-ject debut with the stock arm and cartridge, i know that these are from different parts of the price bracket but the pro-ject is lacking something, i can play the same record on both and it just sounds better on the thorens, i'd steer clear of the debut but the higher spec pro-ject decks are worth a look, particularly the one offered above with the carbon arm, these are a huge improvement on the cheap arms on the debut. watch out for the small print on some ebay auctions, i've got a search set up on my phone for turntables and i consistantly see what i think are real bargains before reading the text and finding that they are not including the arm in the sale (not uncommon with better quality turntables) keep your eye on the small ads in the local paper and in junk shops, there are the occasional bargain turntables knocking round. i have to admit that the Thorens was free! a friend asked if i wanted a turntable as his dad was going to throw it out, i had no idea what i was going to be presented with bit figured i could throw it out myself if it was junk. he came back from his trip home and presented me with the thorens, it was immaculate, i swapped the cartridge for a new one as it was pretty worn and that was it! matt